May 13, 2022

FJ8: Observations

May 13th, 2022
9:30 AM - 10:10 PM
Hill Gardens and Surroundings
Sunny Clear Skies, withing low 80s (Fahrenheit)
Urban residential

Posted on May 13, 2022 05:32 PM by reecemashia reecemashia | 4 observations | 0 comments | Leave a comment

FJ7: Observations

May 7th, 2022
11:15 AM - 12:20 PM
Kill Kare State Park & mouth of Black River
Sunny Clear Skies, 50 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit
Marshland and Lakeside

Posted on May 13, 2022 01:16 AM by reecemashia reecemashia | 3 observations | 0 comments | Leave a comment

April 11, 2022

FJ6: Field Observations

8:15 AM - 9:20 AM April 11,2022
North Prospect to Salmon Hole river walk access
on Intervale Road then continued to Riverside Ave,
Sunny - Clear Skies
Urban to riverside woodland

Posted on April 11, 2022 08:12 PM by reecemashia reecemashia | 9 observations | 0 comments | Leave a comment

March 29, 2022

FJ5: Winter Arrivals

Fairfax woods
4:00pm - 6:30pm
Cloudy Mid thirties
There wasn't too much going on at first, some noticeable Black-capped Chickadees far off and other calls I couldn't Identify. High up in a seemingly heathy tree I saw a what I thought was a Brown creeper by its movement and the shape of its bill. Two crows flew overhead and soon after that a Turkey Vulture, I identified this by the large body and slotted wings along with a seemingly featherless head. I could hear Canada Geese flying above head a couple times, but I could not get the best count.
I have interacted a lot with geese along the shores of Burton Island in the summer. They breed in there summering locations, assumably because it is easier to find food and safer for young. Now that the temperature is rising, seasons are shifting, and food is becoming more plentiful, the Canada Goose is on its way back to the northern habitats they occupy.

Posted on March 29, 2022 03:53 AM by reecemashia reecemashia | 1 observation | 0 comments | Leave a comment

March 16, 2022

FJ4: Winter Behaviors of Black-capped Chickadee

Oakledge Park, Burlington, VT 03/151/2022
Start: 4:45 pm End: 5:45 pm
Cloudy mid 30s to 40s
There wasn't much going on at Oakledge Park as for bird activity, there was a lot of people, and loud music coming from the woods somewhere though. There wasn't much of a trailhead, but I walked out to an old foundation to some building that once stood by the water. After a while Some Black-capped Chickadees flew out from deeper in the woods. There was four of them although they seemed to stay in groups of two. I focused on one group as they flew from twig to twig seemingly looking for food. To get a better picture I tried to get closer, they allowed me to get pretty close, or at least closer than I expected. I chalked this up to the colder temperature and the lack of food making them more willing to risk potential threats to get close to save calories and energy. I did see some dead trees with snags around the property, these would be good for waiting out the night but no activity near them that I saw.

Posted on March 16, 2022 01:08 AM by reecemashia reecemashia | 0 comments | Leave a comment

March 13, 2022

FJ3: Bird interactions and Pileated Woodpecker

Red Rocks Park, VT 03/13/2022
Start: 3:25 pm End: 4:30 pm
Clear Skies with Slight Clouds high 20s to 30s
At the trailhead there wasn't much going on, I expect due to high foot traffic scaring off birds. To avoid interruption, I found a more secluded spot to sit and see what would come around. After some time, I could hear some "here Petey"s from nearby Black-capped Chickadees and a distant drum. I practiced some 'pishing' and to my surprise it seemed to bring in a group of four Chickadees from further off. As they fluttered from branch to branch, I could see that their underbellies were a bit dirty, seemingly from the prior warm days making the surroundings a bit muddier. Two Chickadees in particular tended to stay together, one would move, sometimes give off a little call and the other would catch up and they would continue to forage. As far as the 'pishing' goes I believe it has something to do with curiosity or perhaps it sounds like some sort of insect or something that indicates food. These Chickadees were searching for food, foraging at this time, they were active and seemed to be thorough in their search.
After I've seen the motions of the Chickadees, I decided to look for something a bit more uncommon, on my walk back to the trailhead I heard some loud knocking and suspected a Pileated Woodpecker, after gauging its directions and distance I decided to look for it and after some looking, I spotted it up in a dead tree. It would stay in one spot and look back and forth a couple times and drum. The looking around made me wonder if it was looking to communicate with conspecifics by drumming or perhaps it was trying to stay weary of threats while foraging.

Posted on March 13, 2022 09:55 PM by reecemashia reecemashia | 2 observations | 0 comments | Leave a comment

February 22, 2022

FJ2: Field Observation: ID and Flight Physiology

Rock Point Burlington, VT 02/21/2022
Start: 1:45 pm End: 3:20 pm
Partly cloudy mid 30s to 40s
Upon entry of the trailhead, it became much nosier than I was expecting. There was multiple White-breasted Nuthatch calling back and forth and a drumming far off by some sort of woodpecker. The first sighting I actually had was a male Black-capped Chickadee near the cliffside at rock point, the Chickadee moved from small tree to tree with only a few flutters. It would jump from perch to perch, I would assume that a high level of maneuverability and control in order to fly that close to branches and dense forests. I would contrast this to another bird I saw for a short time down from the cliff flying just above the surface of the water. This bird was moving too quickly for me to identify but it had angular wings that would assist in speed and creation of thrust rather than lift.
Further down the trail near the cliff with the railing and lookout to the water, to the left of the 'rock' (if one is on land), I heard some calls that sounded a bit like an out-of-range walkie talkie. In the water there was 5 ducks, two with a black back and white underside and the others more of a brown and gray. At first there was just the four, excluding one of the brownish ducks, they regrouped and the fifth one made its way over. due to some chasing off between the black and white individuals I came to the conclusion that they were males, and the others were females, this was confirmed later when I IDed the birds as Common Mergansers. The majority of their movement was together, but they would occasionally separate and spread out, calls every so often, before I left, I saw some dives into the water to fish and a third male join the group.

Posted on February 22, 2022 02:08 AM by reecemashia reecemashia | 2 observations | 0 comments | Leave a comment

Archives